


secret santa

by plaidcest



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Niam - Freeform, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:06:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2332967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plaidcest/pseuds/plaidcest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Liam. What does the board say?” Mr. Cowell asked, picking out a random classmate. A boy with a short brown quiff and bright brown eyes inspected the board from his seat for a second before a smile burst out onto his face along with excited whispers from a few girls in the room.</p><p>“It’s says Secret Santa, sir.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	secret santa

“Okay guys so, what holiday is coming up soon?” Mr. Cowell asked and a few people raised their hands. Mr. Cowell pointed to a boy with feathery caramel hair and bright cerulean eyes.

“New Year’s.”

The boy’s classmates snickered. It was the first week of December, so naturally the proper answer to Mr. Cowell’s question would have been Christmas but the blue eyed boy loved to push all of his teachers buttons, Mr. Cowell most of all.

“Yes, Louis, New Year’s is coming up and I can see why you’d be more focused on the party event than the one about family.” Mr. Cowell answered back calmly and the smirk only grew on Louis face, a few kids make hissing noises like he’d just been burned.

“I feel like you should be paying more attention to the party holiday as well Mr. Cowell. Maybe you can finally get some.”

Everyone sniggered again and Mr. Cowell glared at the cheeky boy for a second before his lips twitched.

Mr. Cowell was practically an uncle to Louis, he was a friend of the family and Louis had always called him Uncle Si, since his first name was Simon. Their relationship was very much the same though, even after Simon became his teacher, it was full of banter and attempts to one-up the other with witty remarks. Mr. Cowell’s class was always Louis favorite, and because of the display and taunts it was everyone else’s as well.

Beside Louis a boy with dark sun-kissed skin and raven black hair reached his hand out to Louis and they shared a loud high-five.

“And maybe, Mr. Tomlinson, you can learn to keep your reproductive organs in their place for just a moment.”

A boy with blonde hair, who’d been sitting in the seat just ahead of Louis and covering his mouth to keep his loud guffaws at bay, could no longer hold it in and he let out an enormous, catchy laugh which had everyone joining in. Louis gave Mr. Cowell a look, who answered back with a smug one of his own, and then leaned forward to cuff the blonde above the head.

“Oi!”

Louis just grinned and sat back down. The dark skinned boy was sniggering as Louis turned to look at him. Louis raised an eyebrow and the other boy just grinned.

“Anyways, the correct answer to the upcoming holiday was Christmas, and because I feel like you all could use a break from your usual lessons I have a special assignment to give you.”

Everyone perked up at the words. Even though they loved being in Mr. Cowell’s class they didn’t really enjoy History all that much. The blonde boy raised his hand with his eyebrows raised curiously.

“Yes Niall?”

“What will this assignment involve exactly?” He asked, an Irish accent thick on his tongue, and there was a collective round of agreement. Mr. Cowell turned around and picked up a piece of chalk, he proceeded to write out two words across the board in perfect cursive.

“Liam. What does the board say?” Mr. Cowell asked, picking out a random classmate. A boy with a short brown quiff and bright brown eyes inspected the board from his seat for a second before a smile burst out onto his face along with excited whispers from a few girls in the room.

“It’s says _Secret Santa_ , sir.”

“And how many of you know the whole Secret Santa procedure?” Mr. Cowell asked and everyone’s hands shot up. Mr. Cowell smiled and walked to his desk, leaning back on it a bit and looking out at the class.

“Good to know you’re not all as daft as Mr. Tomlinson then, now---”

“Why are we doing this in History though Mr. Cowell?” The dark skinned boy interrupted and the teacher grinned.

“Good question Zayn. Everyone’s names will be put in a bucket, you come up and pick a name, and you will then have the rest of the day to learn as much about that person as possible but you cannot speak to them. You have to learn a bit of their _history_ to choose a gift that you believe they would like. On the last day of school everyone will put their gifts on the side counter, with the name of the recipient and the recipient only on a tag and I’ll hand out the gifts. You can decide whether or not to reveal yourself as that person’s Secret Santa after they’ve opened their gift or you can just leave it anonymous; it’s your choice.”

Liam’s eyes darted across the room to the blonde who’d burst out laughing. He bit his lip and his thick brows furrowed as he watched the blonde boy, Niall, talking excitedly to a boy with bright red hair, Ed, next to him.

Liam’d had the largest crush on the Irish boy but Liam was never one to be direct and so he was now in the predicament any teenage girl would be proud of. He’d gone to school with the Irish lad since pre-school and he hadn’t spoken a single word to him, he’d gained a crush somewhere along the lines of grade two and grade three. He’d been contemplating doing a sort of Secret Admirer thing recently, and now his heart was thumping unevenly at the thought that maybe he could pull Niall’s name from that bucket and then mix Secret Santa and his Admirer idea into one.

Niall looked away from Ed, his smile large and showing off his white braces. He glanced across the room at a brown haired boy and his smile grew just infinitesimally as he caught his blue eyes with a set of deep chocolate brown ones. The brown eyes looked away and a faint blush coated the boy’s cheeks. Niall sighed silently, he had a massive crush on Liam and he didn’t know what to do.

Niall knew Liam was really shy and each time Niall had tried to talk to the boy the nerves had gotten the better of him and he’d made a complete idiot of himself. Niall knew Liam was nice though, probably the sweetest boy in school, and he really hoped he got to be Liam’s Secret Santa.

“Olly would you mind writing down everyone’s name and putting them into this bucket for me?” Mr. Cowell asked a boy in the front rows, the boy nodded and began writing in a neat, cursive scrawl. He ripped the paper to pieces, each piece containing a name and tossed them into the bucket.

Mr. Cowell walked around silently to each person in the room and Niall held his breath as he reached into the bucket. He pulled his little paper out and glanced at the paper.

**_Danielle._ **

Niall couldn’t help the slight slouch of his shoulders, it wasn’t Liam. Niall knew who Danielle was, probably one of the prettiest girls in school and sure Niall’d love to date her… If he didn’t play for the same team that is. Niall ran a hand through his hair and shook his head to clear his thoughts; maybe it’s just as well he didn’t get Liam. He’d have probably made a right idiot of himself once more.

Liam was the last person Mr. Cowell reached and he was nibbling on the inside of his lip as his fingers pinched the last piece of paper.

“Alright, no switching names with anyone, since class really only has a few minutes left anyways you can visit with each other till the bell rings.”

Liam hadn’t heard the words though as he stared in shock at the name he’d gotten.

He’d actually gotten Niall! A hand slapped him lightly on the back of his shoulder and he shoved the piece of paper into his pocket and looked up. His eyes met with a set of bright green ones and a mop of curly brown hair.

“So who’d you get?” Harry, Liam’s best friend, asked him as he plopped into the seat beside Liam.

“Err, Niall.”

Harry immediately grinned.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking Haz but no.” Liam interrupted before his friend could say anything and the boy pouted.

“You’re no fun. You didn’t even know what I was going to say!” Liam raised his eyebrows and the green eyed boy just smiled mischievously.

In many ways Harry and Liam had the same relationship as Mr. Cowell and Louis. Liam was the more responsible and Harry liked getting under Liam’s skin and causing mayhem. Liam believed that Harry and Louis would have probably made the best/worst couple ever. Best because they just seemed so compatible, though they’d never once spoken to the other, and worst because anyone who knew them was sure to become the end to many, many, _many_ practical jokes. But Liam wasn’t even sure of his friend’s sexuality, let alone Louis’ so he never pushed anything.

“Well I’ve got Louis Tomlinson.” Harry stated, pulling out the small piece of paper from his own pocket and handing it to Liam, as if to show his friend that he wasn’t lying and Liam groaned.

“This is so bad. So very, very bad.”

“Awe don’t worry, we probably won’t become friends or anything, so I think you won’t have to begin dealing with us… Though since it seems like it’d bug you a lot I could go and become friends with him. I feel like his sass would get under your nails perfectly.”

Liam never knew how Harry somehow always knew what he was thinking, or more like worrying, about. It actually kind of creeped Liam out a little bit.

“SO! What did you have planned to try and get yo man?” Harry asked after a second of Liam grimacing at his shoes. Liam’s eyebrows scrunched and he lifted his head only to give his friend a ‘what the actual fuck’ look.

“Did you honestly just say ‘get yo man’ Harry?” Harry grinned.

“So what if I did? Whatchya gon’ do ‘bout it?” He gained a stupid ‘ghetto’ accent and Liam’s cuffed the younger lad over the back of the head. The curly haired boy simply laughed.

Niall watched the two friends and grimaced slightly at seeing how easily Harry could make Liam smile. Niall always wished to be the source of Liam’s smile. Actually he sort of dreamt about it plenty of times. Niall was also slightly jealous of Harry. Harry and Liam seemed so… _close._ Niall couldn’t help but wonder if there was something more going on other than friendship… Harry always seemed to not really know the boundaries between friends and something more…

Niall was pulled from his thoughts by Ed who slipped his bag strap over his shoulder and then stuck his own small slip of paper into his bag.

“So mate, who’d you get?”

“Err, Danielle… What about you?”

“Damn, you always get the good ones. I got Olly.”

“I heard my name.” Olly announced, plopping down onto Ed’s lap and grinning at his Irish friend.

“What’s up Niall?” He grinned, and Ed struggled to push the boy off his lap.

“Olly get your boney ass off my lap.” The ginger growled and the mentioned boy just placed his hand over his heart.

“Excuse me?! Boney ass, my ass!” He retorted and Louis leaned over and joined the conversation.

“Well what else could your butt be considered when it’s in the presence of the greatest ass of all time?”

Olly, Ed, and Niall raised an eyebrow at the grinning blue eyed boy.

“I’m talking about my ass, of course. I’ve clearly got the best sass, and ass in this room. I should make that a t-shirt…” He trails off and Ed rolls his eyes and Niall grins. Zayn shakes his head and slips the sunglasses off his t-shirt and puts them on just as the bell rings for class to end.

Liam watches as the large group of friend’s walks out of the room and notices that Niall had left his history book and notebook on his desk. Niall tended to forget things, but usually his friends would see and they’d grab it before they left the room. Liam was last to leave, not including Mr. Cowell, and so he reached over and grabbed the books before skipping out of class with butterflies fluttering about his stomach.

“Niall! Hey… Niall!” He yelled, pushing through the crowd and Niall, along with Zayn, Louis, Olly, and Ed all turned around. Niall’s heart was racing as he watched his crush walk up to him with two familiar books in his hands.

“You, you forgot these on your desk.” Liam smiled softly handing the books to the shorter Irish lad. Niall’s cheeks burst into flames and it didn’t go unnoticed by his friends who simply grinned at each other.

“Uh… Th-thanks Liam.” He stuttered and suddenly an arm hooked around Liam’s neck. Harry grinned at the large group of guys.

“Well this is lovely and all but I need Liam assistance in music, so I’ll be stealing him. Hope you don’t mind Niall.” Harry winked and the boy just grew a darker shade of red. Liam blushed as well, and sent a glare at his friend before turning to Niall.

“I’ll see you later Niall.”

And before anyone else could say anything he was tugged down the hallway by the curly green eyed boy and they turned a left to the music room.

Niall placed his books in his bag and then turned around only to come face to face with a wall of his friends. Shit.

_“Niall you forgot these.”_

_“I’ll see you later Niall.”_

_“Let’s go out Niall.”_

_“Will you be my boyfriend Niall?”_

Niall glared at the high-pitched, mocking voices of his friends who all burst out laughing and pushed past them with cherry red cheeks and began walking to his next class.

“It’s actually rather cute Niall.” Louis grins as he hooks an arm over the shorter boy; Niall ignores him and keeps walking though he doesn’t shake off the arm.

“I wonder if he got you for the whole Secret Santa thing.” Louis nudges Niall with his hip and Niall pulls his bottom lip between his teeth.

“I still can’t really believe you guys are fine with me being… y’know, gay.” Niall murmurs and Louis’s face contorts to one of confusion.

“We kind of already figured, before you told us I mean. You were never really that concerned with girls or dating, that and you were always staring at your husband _Leeyum._ ”

There’s snickers from the other boys behind Louis and Niall, they all had the next class together.

“I hope you all fall in a hole and die.”

~

Niall opens up his locker in morning recess the next day and is surprised when a little white paper comes fluttering out and lands at his feet. He’s even more surprised to see the single white rose lying on top of his binders with a white ribbon wrapped around it. He pulls the rose to his nose and sniffs at the soft sweet scent and then bends down to pick up the letter.

_‘White, for those angels’ wings you hide from everyone’s eyes. – S.S.’_

Niall blinks. The card is no longer in his hand and he immediately snaps his head to the side to see Ed, Olly, Louis, and Zayn all converged around him again.

“What’s it say?” Ed asks, and Louis leans on Niall’s locker, shutting the door and leaving the boy no way to hide his red face.

“White, for those angels’ wings you hide from everyone’s eyes.” Louis speaks clearly and Zayn nudges Niall with an elbow.

“You’ve got a secret admirer there Niall.” He teases and they all coo over Niall for a bit until the bell rings and they each run off to their respective classes. Niall has a free period, which he usually spends in one of the music rooms, and so with one last glance at the note and one last sniff of the beautiful rose he puts them on the top shelf of his locker and slowly walks to the music room. A smile on his face as he stares at his shoes.

One question plague’s his mind though. Who is S.S.?

~

It’s been two days since Niall got the first rose. And Niall had been a bit apprehensive the previous day but he hadn’t gotten another gift or note from the mysterious S.S. The boys wouldn’t stop bugging him about the first though, which was getting on his nerves, so he was slightly glad that there was no second rose.

Today, that thought flies out the window when he walks into class and sees a yellow rose with red tips lying on his desk with a note.

All the girls in class are staring with envious eyes as the boy sits down and picks up the note and rose, glad that none of his friends share Calculus with him for first period.

_‘Yellow usually shows friendship, but we have never been friends, though I wish that weren’t true. The red tips stay still though, because I’m falling for you. –S.S.’_

“What’s it say?” A voice whispers and he looks to his right to see Danielle grinning at him. He hands her the note silently, having never really spoke to her and she giggles quietly while the teacher’s back is turned.

“You’ve got a secret admirer! Oh this is so romantic!” She gushes and Niall finds himself grinning a little along with her, his stomach fluttering slightly.

~

It’s been two days since the yellow rose with red tips, and four days since the white original rose. There was no rose yesterday and Niall’s beginning to see a pattern building. This time though it’s lunch time when he finds the next one. It’s at his, Zayn, Louis, Ed, and Olly’s table but all the boys know it’s for Niall.

They tease him as he gingerly picks up the light lavender rose and sniffs it; each rose smells nearly the same except for one little difference that makes them unique. Niall likes the smell of roses.

“Well go on then, let’s hear the note.” Olly pushes, grinning at his blonde friend. Niall sighs and is about to read the note to the lot of them when a new face sits down beside him. It’s Danielle, who’d taken to talking to Niall in Calculus about who could possibly be his secret admirer. No one in the school had the initials S.S. so that must be a pseudonym of some sort. They still hadn’t figured it out.

Danielle just grins at the curious glances of all the boys and then smiles at Niall.

“May I possibly be able to hear what is says as well?” She asks and Niall gives her the note, not wanting to read it aloud himself.

More than just that table though can hear, as everyone in the lunch room had gone quiet, the girls especially who were all very much romantics.

“ _‘I don’t think you realize this look in my eyes, but just so you know I’ve always said it was love at first sight. – S.S.’_ Oh gosh this is just too cute!”

For the rest of that day and the next the guys are reciting the little line each time they see Niall but he doesn’t mind. Each time they do it brings a smile on his face. He can’t help imagine though, that each time he hears those words or reads them that it’s Liam’s voice speaking them to him.

~

It’s Monday, the weekend having just passed and Niall couldn’t stop thinking about was who this mysterious S.S. was, he also could hardly sleep the night before since he didn’t get a rose on Friday so he was guaranteed to get one today.

He dressed in a rush and made it to the school a few moments after the front doors were opened to the students.

He went to his locker and a smile broke out on his face when he saw a blue rose sitting exactly where the white one had nearly a week before. A white ribbon was tied around the flower, as it had been on each of the flowers so far. And as Niall took a sniff of the unique flower he read the note.

_‘Though you may see this color every day, I wish those words were the ones that I could say – S.S.’_

Niall asked Louis at lunch what the note could possibly mean, not getting any of the message at all. How could he say he saw such an amazing blue every day? Louis took one look at the shorter boy’s eyes before grinning and telling him to look in a mirror which Zayn wearily produced.

“It’s talking about your eye’s Niall. The rose is the same shade as your eyes.” Louis grins and Niall can’t help but bite his lip and look down at the beautiful plant. His eyes aren’t that bright or vibrant a blue, surely not!

~

Niall was getting into the habit of being everywhere at school early. And he was not disappointed when Wednesday came around and he was early to gym. Resting on the bottom set of bleachers was a new rose, a beautiful shade of coral, with a white ribbon tied round it and a stark white piece of paper.

_‘Your heart’s my one desire, yet to own it I’d surely burn from all the fire – S.S.’_

How could someone burn if they owned my… Oh. Niall’s eyebrows rose slightly and he couldn’t help grinning as he got changed and left the note and rose in his gym locker. Was this S.S. saying Niall had so much passion in his heart that if S.S. really owned it he’d be burnt? Niall wasn’t really that passionate… Not that he could figure anyways. He probably had about as much sex appeal as a baby albino walrus.

“Who are you?” He whispered noiselessly as the rest of the class finished changing and emerged from the change rooms. His blue eyes caught those lovely brown ones and his heart jumped to his throat.

~

It’s Friday, and after school Niall’s going out with the boys, Danielle, and a few of her friends to go shopping for their Secret Santa gifts. If he’s honest, Niall has no clue what to get Danielle, even though they’d actually become good friends. He almost felt like he was slacking in the assignment as well since he’d hardly learned about her past. He was a bit too preoccupied with the whole S.S. fiasco.

He walked to his locker and grabbed his stuff, heading off to Calculus with Danielle by his side, turns out she was always at the school early too; she had permission from the principle to dance in the gym a few hours before school started. They sat down in the classroom, Niall’s stomach fluttering as he wondered when and where he’d find the rose today, and the room slowly filled up. Then just moments before the bell was to ring there was a knock at the door.

Harry Styles walked into the classroom, a single orange rose in his hand, and he spoke with the teacher for a second. Niall’s face burned, surely it wasn’t Harry who was giving him the roses, Harry couldn’t have been S.S. could he? After Harry finished talking to the teacher he walked over to Niall and handed him the rose, the room was dead silent as they waited for the boy to talk; to confirm or deny that he was the one sending the roses and notes to Niall. Harry went to leave the classroom without a word but just as he reached the door he turned around and winked at Niall.

“Don’t worry, I’m not S.S. I’ve just been asked to be a delivery boy. See ya later Niall.” And with that the curly haired boy walked out of the room. Danielle giggled and took a deep breathe.

“Thank god, I’d thought Harry was the one giving you the roses, oh the awkward!”

Niall flipped the card and began reading, sniffing at the rose, just as the bell for class to begin rang.

_‘Let’s go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun. I know we’ve barely met but let’s pretend its love. –S.S.’_

Niall’s brow furrowed. Why did these all seem like they could easily be lyrics… Was S.S. a song writer? If so that narrowed down the possibilities quite a lot. Not many people were into that part of music, they just wanted to play or sing.

When Niall finally got to the lunch table he noticed that Zayn was missing. As Niall opened his mouth to ask where the boy was there was a tap on his shoulder and he came eye to eye with two dark brown sparkling eyes.

“This is for you Mr. Horan.” Zayn grinned, handing his friend another orange rose and a note.

“Whoa, please tell me you’re not this S.S. person.” Louis cut in, stopping Niall from speaking once again.

“Oh no, I’m not. I’m simply a delivery boy. Don’t worry Lou; they’ll be getting into contact with you on Monday so you can deliver on Tuesday. I was told to give you a heads up.” Niall’s head snaps up so fast that he gets a crick in his neck and he winces but otherwise acts like he hadn’t most likely just given himself whiplash.

“You know who S.S. is?” Zayn’s grin widens as he looks down at the blonde haired Irishman.

“Yes, I also know what S.S. stands for.” His smile is smug and Niall wants to beat his friend over the head with a pillow till he tells Niall who S.S. is and what the bloody hell those two initials stand for.

“Ooh, this is going to be fun.” Louis laughs, “I can’t wait to see who it is.” Ed and Olly share a look and Zayn turns his grin onto them.

“You two will be helping S.S. on Thursday. The second last day of school.”

“Wait a bloody second!” Niall interrupts, staring at his friends like they’ve got three heads each. “Who the hell is S.S.?”

“S.S. is your Secret Santa, Niall. And that’s all I’m allowed to tell you.” Zayn pulled out his phone and began tapping away at the screen. Niall frowned and looked down at the rose and note, so S.S. meant Secret Santa, and his Secret Santa was a songwriter. Wasn’t much to go on but maybe he can pry something out of Louis on Tuesday, the boy sucks at lying.

Niall begins to read the card, not noticing that Louis, Ed, and Olly’s phone’s had just buzzed and they all looked down at them, smiles growing on their faces.

_‘You fascinate me to no end, can I lay with you under the stars, speaking while the moon descends? –S.S.’_

One thing Niall knows for sure, whoever his Secret Santa is, they sure as hell have a way with words.

Niall doesn’t notice that his friends all look up collectively and turn their heads to look over at a boy with curly brown hair and green eyes and his brown haired, brown eyed friend. Niall doesn’t notice the grin the brown eyed boy sends the table and he definitely doesn’t notice the wink that the brown eyed boy sends their way before getting up and heading to the music room, his green eyed friend skipping after him.

~

The weekend was a hard and boring one. The only upside to Niall’s weekend was that they went shopping for new ornaments for the tree, some people might have considered it cutting a bit close because right now, Tuesday, it was only six days till Christmas but Niall didn’t care. He loved shopping for ornaments, or looking at ornaments, even thinking about ornaments. He loves how pretty they were and how easily they could spice up anything.

He also managed to actually find something for Danielle, though hiding it from her was crazy as all hell.

He notices as he hops out of his car and begins walking across the school parking lot that there is a figure waiting at the door. From this far away he can see nothing but the fact that this figure is wearing a bright red Santa hat atop their head. As he gets closer he picks up the familiar twist of lips, mischievous blue eyes, and teasing expression and he groans. He continues walking anyway and as he gets closer Louis opens the door and they walk inside.

Louis has been twisting a dark red rose between his fingers and as Niall finishes putting his stuff in his locker he hands the rose over and shoves his hands into his jacket pockets, digging around for a second before handing Niall the stark white note. Before Niall can ask questions Louis begins speaking quietly and softly.

“Don’t worry Niall. You’ll be pleasantly surprised on Friday, trust me.” He gives his shorter friend a hug and then skips off to his own locker down the hall. Niall rolls his eyes at his friend and reads the note. The scent of the dark rose intoxicatingly stronger than any of the other roses he’s received.

_‘Three simple days, three simple words, would you be willing to join our two worlds? – S.S.’_

That was true, only three days and he’d see this Secret Santa for the first time and finally know who it was… Or he could still try and get it out of Louis…

Niall’s eyes flicker to his right and he watches with squinting eyes as his chirpy friend digs through his locker with a smile on his face.

Yeah, maybe Niall will do just that…

~

Niall can’t help but frown as he trudges up the front door later that Tuesday, he’d only gotten that one rose today. Why did he get two Friday and why was he going to get two on Thursday and then only one today.

His heart dropped a little in its intense flow of beats, slowing to a semi-normal pace. Maybe his Secret Santa had forgotten? Or they’d just gotten sick of giving Niall little unnecessary gifts when they really only had to get him one for this Friday…

He walked into the house, shutting the door behind him and he was enveloped in the warmth and scent of home and his Mum’s cooking. He kicked off his shoes and walked through the house, passing the living room and entering the kitchen. He dropped his book bag onto one of the seats and draped his coat over the back of it.

His Mum was bustling about the kitchen, getting things ready already to make supper and desert. She turned around at the sound of Niall’s entry into the kitchen/dining room area and he walked over to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey Mum, what’s for supper?” She grinned, something sparkling in her eyes.

“Why don’t you check on the table, I’ve got the cook books out. Oh! And someone dropped something off for you around noon. I put it in the vase to keep it watered.”

Niall’s eyes immediately darted to the table he’d just walked by, there sat a stack of open cookbooks spread across the table, in the middle was a thin crystal vase, holding a single light pink rose. His Mum watched with a tiny smile as her son walked towards the table and grabbed the white note from beside the vase, and lifted up the vase to sniff at the rose.

She knew who’d been giving him the roses that decorated his room. He was a nice boy, the one sending Niall the roses, and she’d known him since he was a little boy in diapers. She was friends with his mother actually, and they’d been friends in high school and had always joked that their kids would get together when they had them. Well now Maura was sure Karen’s boy, Liam, and her own, Niall, would be getting together.

She’d heard Niall mutter the boys name multiple times in his sleep, and she’d heard Niall’s friends Olly, Ed, Louis, and Zayn all tease him about his crush on the brown eyed boy. Liam also spoke of Niall in such a way when he’d been visiting that it would have been extremely hard to not see what was happening there.

But, she would not tell her son who it was. No, that would ruin the surprise Liam had planned and it really was a lovely surprise. Maura went back to cooking, smiling to herself and humming a nameless tune as she worked, the picture of her boy smiling as he looked down at the note fresh in her mind.

Yes, it was a lovely surprise.

~

“Why do you guys insist on reading all the notes?” Niall groaned early Thursday morning, Olly, Ed, Louis, and Zayn had all burst into his room way earlier than he had to be up for school and they were now reading the stack of notes that Niall had kept from all the roses. Zayn grinned.

“Well, Ed and Olly have the new ones, we just wanted to compare. And to see the second one from Tuesday because you didn’t show or tell us what it said.”

Niall slumped deeper under his covers, trying to block out his nosey friends. Sure, Niall woke up pretty early each morning but hell this was WAY earlier than he usually would wake up. Fucking twits, that’s what his friends were.

Louis grinned as he watched the blonde fall back asleep and his eyes strayed back to the paper in his hands.

_‘Hello, hello, I know it’s been a while but, baby, I’ve got something that I want to let you know. – S.S.’_

~

Niall was laughing as he skipped towards the lunch room, his arms were locked between Louis and Zayn’s and they were forcing the Irish lad to skip along with them as they sang the Wizard of Oz theme song.

Liam watched anxiously as the doors to the lunch room burst open, his nerves evaporated at the sight of the crinkly eyed, blonde boy who was laughing between two of his best mates as they attempted to try and get him to skip along with them.

Ed and Olly sat beside Harry and Liam on the far-side of the lunchroom from their usual table, they each had a rose on their lap and a note.

“Okay Olly you go first, then we’ll wait for Zayn’s signal and then bring over the second.” Harry states, looking up from a text he’d just been reading. Olly nods and stands up walking a roundabout way to their table and the other three boy’s watch, Liam holding his breath, as Niall looks up from the table.

Niall takes the bright red rose from Olly, giving him a simply eyebrow raised look and his friend grins and sits down, nudging him to read the note. Niall does, not noticing Zayn now nodding to somewhere across the room, or someone across the room.

_‘Though terrified I may be, of the feelings you stir inside of me, I’ll still left my feeling show and tell the world what it ought to know. – S.S.’_

Before Niall could ponder or even really take in what the message said another rose was being handed to him, this one a bright white just like the first.

_‘First two Lithium, then what is the morning? But what is a window split in two? Just one little riddle for your brain. – S.S.’_

Niall frowned, two Lithium, morning, and windows. What the bloody hell is going on here…

~

“Do you think I made the riddle way too hard for him? I should’ve made it easier.” Liam moaned into his pillow and Harry laughed on the other line of the phone.

“Calm down mate! Even if he doesn’t get it you can explain it all to him tomorrow.”

“I know, I just… I can’t help but feel all nervous. What is everyone’s wrong and he really doesn’t like me back?”

There was no answer from the other line.

“Haz?”

“Sorry, I didn’t think you wanted me to yell at you that DON’T BE A FUCKING RETARD FROM ONE OF THOSE STUPID MOVIES OR BOOKS AND JUST GET YOUR FUCKING MAN ALREADY!”

Liam’s eyed widened and he held the phone away from his ringing ear.

“Ow Harry! Trying to make me def are we?”

Harry grinned, though his friend couldn’t see it.

“Maybe. Now get to bed, stop worrying, me and the lads have got everything else all set up. GOODNIGHT.”

“Night.” Liam sighed and his friend hung up. Liam smashed his face into his pillow once more and he yelled into it, relieving a little extra stress.

~

Niall sat at home doing Science homework, mumbling to himself about how stupid it is that he has homework on the night before the last day of school before he has Christmas break. His eye’s scrolled across the periodic table and then zoned in on the one element he needed to fill in a hand out sheet he’d been given; Lithium. Initials, Li, atomic mass… Wait.

Niall’s heard began beating faster as he pulled the last two notes from his pocket and unfolded them. He found the riddle and re-read it. ‘ _First two Lithium’_ … First two what… Could it be something to spell out his Secret Santa’s name? If the formula for Lithium is Li, and the first two are Lithium, or Li then it’s got to be spelling it out.

Li, okay next ‘what is the morning?’. What is the morning? Niall’s nose scrunched up as he thought up other words or sayings that meant morning. None came to mind and so with a grimace he went onto the last bit of the riddle. _‘What is a window split in two?’._ Niall pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and rushed down the stairs.

“Mum, what’s it called when a window is split in two? Like are there specific names or something?” He asked and Maura looked up from the carrots she was cutting with a curious eye.

“Well when you’ve got two pieces of a window, they’re called window panes, the left pane and the right pane.”

Niall’s eyes widened and his mouth formed a small ‘o’ shape. No way, it… It couldn’t be.

Li… Pane…. Li, what is morning. AM. AM IS MORNING. LIAM PAYNE.

LIAM PAYNE WAS HIS SECRET SANTA.

~

Niall traveled through the halls nervously towards his first class; History.

He was doubting whether his flash of genius was actually what he thought it was, which meant Liam WAS his Secret Santa and his admirer, or that it wasn’t, which meant Liam wasn’t.

He turned a corner and spotted the doorway to Mr. Cowell’s class. He took a deep breathe and walked forwards but as soon as he entered the door he was stopped by a hard wall. Or make that, a rock solid chest. Liam Payne’s chest to be exact.

Niall looked up at the boy with soft, slightly curly brown hair and bright chocolate brown eyes.

“Is it… Is it actually you?” He managed to whisper, hope crushing his heart painfully into his ribs. Liam’s soft smile broke out into a massive grin at the words.

“Yeah. I didn’t think you’d be able to figure out the riddle. I thought maybe it was like really, really hard, not that I’m saying your not smart or anything its just that I thought about what I would think if I received the riddle and realized that I would have no clue what the fuck was going on and so… I’ll just… I’ll just shut up now.. Yeah.” Liam brought a hand up and rubbed at his neck. Niall grinned, for once he wasn’t the one making a fool of himself.

“Did you mean everything you said? Like on the notes?” Niall asked and Liam dropped his arm from his neck and put it on Niall’s forearm, pulling the shorter boy’s wrist and hand closer to him and holding it in both hands. The class was discretely trying to watch and listen, Mr. Cowell was not yet in the room. Harry, Louis, Ed, Olly, and Zayn were all grinning from ear to ear as they watched their two friends.

“I meant absolutely everything. I’ve actually kind of fancied you since grade two or three, around that time anyways. And I was always too nervous to really get up the nerves to _actually_ talk to you which I hope you’ll forgive me for.”

Niall rolled his eyes.

“Liam, you have nothing to be sorry for first off.”

“Sorry… Wait… Oops.” Liam blushed and Niall laughed, making Liam smile.

“You’re apologizing for apologizing when I told you not to? You’re nicer than people give you credit for… And to think you’re last name is Payne.” Niall winked and Liam playfully glared.

“Shut it you. I can be mean when I want to be.”

Niall raised his eyebrows and Liam grinned.

“As I was saying, you have nothing to apologize for---”

“OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT YOU HAVEN’T SNOGGED THE LIFE OUT OF THE BOY YET!” Louis yelled making everyone jump and the classmates to all laugh. Liam blushed a deeper shade of red, along with Niall. Both boys gave each other nervous grins and Harry came up behind Liam and shoved his back, making him move forwards and bump into Niall.

Both boys ended up in the doorway of the classroom and they turned to face the culprit who had a cheeky grin on his face. The curly haired boy pointed a little above their heads and Niall looked up to see a plastic set of mistletoe taped to the middle of the door. He turned to Liam who was glaring at his best friend.

“Listen Niall, if you don’t want to I’m sure you don’t have t---” Liam’s words were cut off as Niall grabbed his shirt collar and pulled the taller boy’s head down to his height and attached their lips together in a simple kiss.

The class was silent for a moment before cat calls and wolf whistles broke out, along with a few ‘Finally!’s from the two boy’s group of friends.

The two boys broke apart a little bit later to the sound of someone clearing their throat on the hallway side of the classroom door. Everything went silent as the two boys looked at a blank faced Mr. Cowell.

“Alright Louis. What the hell did you have the boys smoke?” He called as he walked into the classroom. Louis stuck his nose up defiantly.

“I haven’t had them smoking anything.”

“Mmm, hmm. I’ll be speaking to your Mum about this.” Mr. Cowell grinned and winked at Liam and Niall who both blushed a deeper red.

“Anyways, has everyone got their presents on the side? If so please sit down in your seat and I’ll call you up to get a present. You get it and then sit back down and open it and then if your Secret Santa would like to step forth and admit they were yours then they can, if not oh well.”

The classmates ran to their seats, Niall sat down beside Ed, Liam beside Harry, and Louis and Zayn behind Niall and Ed with Olly in the row ahead. Niall and Liam shared a look and Liam gave Niall a small smile which he returned.

Niall’s lips felt like they were on fire. There was a tingling, burning sensation that had appeared there as soon as he’d joined his and Liam’s lips and it was only smoldering deep in the pit of his stomach as he sat there a few feet away from Liam. He was oh so tempted to grab Liam’s shirt collar again and pull their lips together, this time though it would not be a simple kiss.

The names were called at random, and soon Niall was called up. He grabbed his gift, a small rectangular box, and a larger square box, and sat down at his desk. He looked over at Liam, who grinned and stood up as his name was called. He walked past Niall’s desk and Ed, Niall, Olly, Louis, and Zayn could all hear the words ‘Open it’ before he passed.

Niall tore the paper off the smaller box, and lifted the lid to the oddly shaped box. His eyes widened as he looked at the paper contents inside.

“No way.” He shook his head, turning to look at Liam. He mouthed the words ‘You didn’t!’ to which Liam simply grinned and mouthed back the words ‘Oh but I did.’

“What? What is it?” Louis asked, peeking over Niall’s shoulder.

“He got me tickets to see Justin Bieber.”

Ed, Olly, Zayn, and Louis all laughed and chorused.

“Well I’m not going with you!” Niall glared at his friends.

“Why would none of you come to see Justin Bieber with me?”

“Because, we aren’t teenage women, first off.” Zayn states before Louis grins.

“That, and I’m not about to deal with a fangirling Niall for a few hours.” Niall glares and turns to Liam and mouths a thank you. He pulls the paper off the second box and laughs when he sees that inside is a large assortment off all his favorite sweets. The boys laugh two and they all look over to see that Liam had opened up his own gift and was blushing deeper than any of them had ever seen before.

“I wonder what he’s gotten.” Zayn mused and Olly cackled.

“That’d be me. I was his Secret Santa.”

Niall raised his eyebrows at Olly who simply grinned.

“The present benefits the both of you really.”

Niall’s face goes blank for a second before his turn’s bright red as well.

“YOU DIDN’T.” Olly grins.

“Oh, but I did. See, here let’s even call him over. HEY LIAM, LIKE THE PRESENT?” Liam looks over at Olly and his face is blank but his lips keep twitching and his shoulders are shaking slightly.

“You’re ridiculous Olly. Ridiculous.” Olly smiles.

“I know.”

“OH MY GOD!” Louis suddenly yells from behind all of them and they turn to face the wide eyed Doncaster native.

“Louis… Louis mate are you alright?” Ed asks, waving his hand in front of the boys face. Louis slowly reaches into the bag his present was in and he pulls out a black onesie that was covered in multiple colored hand prints and tiny names under each set. From what Niall would see it appeared to be a hand set from each of his siblings and his Mum, though there was one set of large hand prints right on top of the bum area and there was no signature by them.

“THIS IS AWESOME.” Louis yells, turning it around and looking at all the handprints.

“Yeah mate, but like who’s the one who’s ‘touching your ass’?” Zayn jokes and suddenly a curly haired boy appears between the two and drapes an arm over Louis and Zayn’s shoulders.

“That, my lovely dears, would be moi.” He grins and Louis winks at the green eyed boy.

“I don’t mind you touching my ass Harry. Feel free to do so whenever you please.”

“Oh well thank you Louis, you’re too kind.”

The group of boys hear and groan and they look over to see Liam with his head down on his desk. Harry’s grins stays on his face.

“Ah, me thinks my best mate doesn’t like this arrangement.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Because he knows that if we do get together or even become friends his life is going to become a burning hell.” Harry lets out an attempt at an evil laugh and Niall laughs as well as he watches Liam wince.

“Awe come on Liam, they wont be that bad.” Niall tries to reassure the boy and Liam lifts his head for a second.

“No they’ll be worse.”

“Hey, at least you have me.” Niall winks and Liam grins cheekily back.

“At least I have you.”


End file.
